Best Science Fiction of the Year 3. ed Terry Carr. Ballantine. 1974.

Alfred Bester. Something Up There Likes Me.
Originally in : Astounding

A satellite which develops a technical problem after launch is given an electrical jolt in order to make it work properly. The electrical surge has a more dramatic effect, and the satellite does a particularly good monitoring job.

R.A. Lafferty. The World as Will and Wallpaper.
Originally in : Future City

A world-encircling city is patterned after William Morris (he of the Arts and Crafts movement). The protagonist searches for the meaning of life.

Robert Silverberg. Breckenridge and the Continuum.
Originally in : Showcase

Breckenridge and colleagues trudging across endless wasteland, debating the nature of mythology.

Jack Vance. Rumfuddle.
Originally in : Three Trips in Time and Space

Successfully blends alternate worlds, matter transporters, and a mystery/thriller.

F.M. Busby. Tell Me All About Yourself.
Originally in : New Dimensions 3

Dale reluctantly tries a necro house, and tries to find love, when only a more basic need can be fulfilled.

Harlan Ellison. The Deathbird.
Originally in : Fantasy & Science Fiction

The DeathBird is unfurling its wings to encircle the Earth.

Vonda N. McIntyre. Of Mist and Grass and Sand.
Originally in :

On a desert world, a Healer tries her snake-magic on an ailing boy.

Gene Wolfe. The Death of Dr. Island.
Originally in : Universe 3

Adults and children with severe psychiatric disorders are put into a virtual environment.

Ursula K. Le Guin. The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas.
Originally in : New Dimensions 3

What price happiness for the majority?

Philip Jose Farmer. Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind.
Originally in : Nova 3

An alien artefact circling the Earth causes increasing memory loss for the population of the Earth.

James Tiptree Jr. The Women Men Don’t See.
Originally in : Fantasy & Science Fiction

A small plane crashes in a mangrove swamp, leaving the pilot, the protaganist, and two women, to survive. The women achieve a survival beyond that of the two men.

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